Rod Dedeaux, Who Led U.S.C. to 11 College World Series Titles, Dies at 91

Rod Dedeaux, who coached the University of Southern California to a record 11 College World Series championships and sent some 60 players to the major leagues, died Thursday in Glendale, Calif. He was 91.

The cause was complications of a stroke, U.S.C. said.

Dedeaux took the Trojans to a record five consecutive N.C.A.A. championships, from 1970 to 1974, and he had 41 winning seasons coaching baseball at U.S.C. from 1942 to 1986. A protégé of Casey Stengel, he blended strong fundamentals with a clowning touch, calling almost everyone Tiger and insisting that new players wear a ratty red wig as a rite of initiation.

Dedeaux coached U.S.C. to 1,332 victories with 571 losses and 11 ties, setting a record for N.C.A.A. Division I triumphs, which was eclipsed in 1994 by Cliff Gustafson of Texas. Dedeaux was named College Coach of the Year six times by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He coached the United States national team to an unofficial silver medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when baseball was a demonstration sport.

Dedeaux drew upon the numerous U.S.C. players who went on to the major leagues as a recruiting network. He stressed heads-up play, and once observed, "If you learn to do the right thing all the time, it doesn't matter one bit who you're playing."

But he coached with a light touch. "I'm a ham at heart," he said. "When we work, we work hard as hell. But we have fun, too. A little clowning helps."

Dedeaux said he patterned himself after Stengel, a longtime friend, observing how "I never had any trouble understanding Case."

Raoul Martial Dedeaux (pronounced DAY-dough) was born in New Orleans on Feb. 17, 1914, but he grew up in Southern California, playing baseball at Hollywood High School, then became the shortstop and captain at U.S.C. Stengel, who was managing the Brooklyn Dodgers in the mid-1930's while living in the Los Angeles area during the off-season, first spotted Dedeaux as a high school player, then signed him for the Dodgers' organization for a $1,500 bonus after he graduated in 1935.

But a back injury in the minor leagues that summer curtailed Dedeaux's playing career. He appeared in two games for the Dodgers at shortstop in 1935, then played in the Pacific Coast League, never making it back to the major leagues.

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When Dedeaux's former coach at U.S.C., Sam Barry, entered the Navy in 1942, Dedeaux took over the coaching job, and he held it through the end of World War II. He served as co-coach with Barry from 1946 to 1950.

While coaching at U.S.C., Dedeaux also ran a trucking firm, Dart International, which he founded in 1938 to haul canned goods and produce in Southern California. It eventually expanded operations to other states.

Dedeaux's trademark was a red wig he had kept from his days as a senior at Hollywood High, and he insisted that every new player at U.S.C. wear it in public while singing "McNamara's Band." After victories, the entire team sang "McNamara's Band" in the clubhouse.

"My turn came in the San Francisco airport," Seaver told George Vecsey of The New York Times in 1981. "I wore the wig and put shaving cream on my face and sang like crazy."

Dedeaux was of French descent, but he once remarked, "I guess I'm a frustrated Irishman."

When Dedeaux stepped down as U.S.C. coach, he took an administrative position as the university's director of baseball. The Trojans' baseball field is named for him.

He is survived by his wife, Helen; his sons Justin and Terry; his daughters Michele and Denise; and nine grandchildren.

Amid all the winning strategy over more than four decades, Dedeaux -- in the mold of his mentor -- could sometimes be hard to understand.

"A lot of Stengel rubbed off on Rod," U.S.C. quoted Fairly as saying once. "He could call a kid into his office for 10 or 15 minutes and the kid could come out feeling pretty good about himself, even if he had no idea what Rod had said."